New ILO policy brief calls for domestic workers to be included in care policies

Posted 19 Mar 2024

2 min read

Care policies are public policies that allocate resources to the provision of care and access to care rights, like early childhood care, and long-term care services etc.
Domestic worker is any person engaged in domestic work within an employment relationship and on an occupational basis.
- There are 4.75 million domestic workers in India (of which 3 million are women).

Issues faced by Domestic workers:
- Lack of Labor rights and social protection as 8 out of every 10 are informally employed.
- Domestic work is among five sectors accounting for majority of adult forced labour.
- Other Issues: Poorly paid jobs, discrimination, sexual exploitation, etc.

Recommendation made:
- Recognize domestic workers as care workers and include them within national care policies and social security systems.
- Ratifying International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 189 called Domestic Workers Convention, 2011, protecting rights of domestic workers. (India has not ratified).
- Skills recognition and skills training initiatives that ensure formal valuation of their work.
- Raise awareness about critical role of domestic workers.

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013: Protects female domestic workers from sexual exploitation.
Code on Wages, 2019: has provision for workers engaged as domestic workers.
Code on Social Security, 2020: Provides for social security to all unorganized workers including domestic workers.

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